The London Monster The London Monster was the supposed perpetrator of a number of alleged attacks against women in London between 1788 and 1790. Within two years there were over fifty reports of predominantly wealthy women being accosted by a large man who would first shout obscenities at them before stabbing them in the buttocks in an apparent act of piquerism. Some versions of the tale describe the man having offered the woman fake flowers to smell before stabbing them in the face with a spike concealed in the petals. In each case the attacker had fled the scene before help arrived. Some women, upon hearing that The Monster only attacked the most beautiful women, would lie about having been attacked themselves, and some went so far as to fake wounds. Fear of The Monster lead to a number of men being falsely accused, in fact, it was deemed necessary to establish a No Monster Club, the members of which would wear a pin attached to their lapels to show that they were not The Monster. The fact that The Monster might easily have obtained one of these for himself appears to have been overlooked. Armed vigilantes began patrolling the streets and women began to wear copper plates over their petticoats to protect themselves. A £100 reward was offered for the capture of The Monster but the false accusations continued, culminating in the arrest of Rhynwick Williams. Anne Porter, a victim of The Monster, told her admirer, John Coleman, that she had seen her attacker in the park. Coleman pursued the man, Williams, and confronted him. Williams insisted he was innocent but given the climate of panic, no one believed him. He was charged with defacing clothing - a crime which, at the time, carried a harsher punishment than assault and attempted murder. He was sentenced to six years in prison. Reports of attacks continued while he was there, leading some historians to believe that perhaps The Monster was merely a case of mass hysteria.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 18:15:00 +0000
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